Call Centre to Open in Sydney

Ron Weber and Associates Inc. is opening a teleservice centre in Sydney, creating 500 jobs. The company will recruit and train 100 employees over the summer and hire the remainder over the next three years.

Staff will be trained at a new state-of-the-art training facility expected to open in September at the Marconi Campus of the Nova Scotia Community College.

"We are very pleased to open this new facility and we look forward to being part of the community for many years to come," said Ron Weber, company president and CEO. "We chose Sydney as the site of our new teleservices centre for a number of reasons.

"First and foremost, the area has an excellent supply of skilled, talented and loyal workers. We are also impressed by the commitment to training we recognized in the province, particularly by organizations like the Nova Scotia Community College and, of course, the assistance we received from Connections Nova Scotia, which made the decision even easier."

The announcement was made today by Manning MacDonald, Minister of Nova Scotia Economic Development and Tourism, and Senator Al Graham, Leader of the Government in the Senate and Minister responsible for Nova Scotia, on behalf of Pierre Pettigrew, Minister of Human Resources Development Canada, and Fred Mifflin, Secretary of State for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

"Despite the fact that the Cape Breton economy is in transition, it is still a highly attractive place to do business because of the quality of its workforce," said Senator Graham. "Cape Breton will continue to be a destination choice for knowledge-based industries. This is an excellent example of the government of Canada's job strategy at work."

Both the Weber call centre and the new training facility are being supported by the federal and provincial governments. Human Resources Development Canada will invest $1.65 million in the teleservice centre through the Canada Jobs Fund. Enterprise Cape Breton Corp. is providing $500,000.

The province of Nova Scotia, through Economic Development and Tourism, is investing $900,000 in the form of a wage rebate if the company meets and maintains job targets.

Economic Development and Tourism and Enterprise Cape Breton Corp. will also contribute $500,000 each to establish the training centre. The funds will be used to construct a building and to buy equipment.

"A few months back, when we announced the province's support of our first call centre for Cape Breton, I said that it was our provincial goal to grow telecommunications and other knowledge-based industries here. Today, we're demonstrating our commitment to doing just that," said Mr. MacDonald.

"Ron Weber and Associates, one of North America's leading teleservice agencies, is bringing good jobs to Cape Breton and, in the process, helping to diversify and grow our local economy."

Ray Ivany, president of the Nova Scotia Community College, said the school recognizes that new economy jobs, by definition, can be located anywhere. "We are providing opportunities for people to acquire specialized skills and expertise so that knowledge-based industries, like call centres, can succeed in Cape Breton."

Since its founding in 1980, Ron Weber and Associates has used leading-edge technology to provide inbound and outbound teleservices to a number of Fortune 500 clients. The award-winning company has been consistently ranked among the Top 25 largest service agencies listed in the annual rankings of Call Center Solutions magazine.

The company has more than 1,500 employees in seven call centres in Iowa and Illinois. The firm also has sales offices in Omaha, Nebraska and San Jose, Calif.

The provincial government and its partner MTT, through Connections Nova Scotia, have been instrumental in attracting more than 15 call centres to Nova Scotia in the past four years. These call centres will employ more than 5,000 Nova Scotians by 2001.

The Canada Jobs Fund is a $110-million per year permanent program that focuses on economic growth and employment in communities with high unemployment rates, particularly those in rural, coastal and northern regions. The fund builds on the success achieved through the Transitional Jobs Fund, a three-year program that created more than 35,000 jobs through 1,000 projects across Canada.

The Canada Jobs Fund will invest in the creation of long-term jobs by working in collaboration with the private sector, other levels of government and regional economic development agencies. Project proposals must meet program criteria and be approved by the various partners and the provincial or territorial government. This program is part of the government of Canada's targeted plan to foster job creation and economic growth in key sectors.

Economic Development and Tourism provides business counselling, export assistance and financial support to more than 900 Nova Scotia companies, 80 per cent of which are in rural areas of the province. These companies generate more than $2.5 billion in sales and $110 million in provincial tax revenues each year. The department's support helps these companies to become more competitive, create new jobs and increase exports, which are necessary for a growing economy. And a growing economy is the only sustainable way of preserving our schools and health care systems.

Enterprise Cape Breton Corp. offers programs in support of economic development initiative and is responsible for delivering ACOA's programs on Cape Breton island and in the Mulgrave area.